Witches’ speed, conditioning, depth sink Rams in hockey

Brewer forward Tyler White shoots the puck into the empty net with Bangor goalie Chris Howatt and defenseman Anthony Capuano (9 ) caught out of position in the final minute of the second period of Wednesday's game in Brewer. The Witches won 9-3.

BREWER — The Brewer High School Witches pride themselves on their speed, their conditioning and their depth.

All three came into play Wednesday night as the Witches received three goals and an assist from junior right wing Tyler White, two goals and an assist from senior center Evan Nadeau and two goals from sophomore center Kyle Alexander en route to a resounding 9-3 triumph over archrival Bangor at Penobscot Ice Arena.

Class B Brewer improved to 5-0-1 while Class A Bangor fell to 4-2. Brewer is now 6-0-1 in the last seven meetings between the two.

Lucas Lamond and Spencer Valley had the other Brewer goals, and Lamond had two assists. Adam Cossette finished with 25 saves.

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Nic Cota, Phil Frost and Zeb Tuell scored for Bangor, and Tuell also had an assist. Chris Howat made 27 saves on 33 shots through two periods before Bobby Winchell stopped seven of 10 in the third.

The Witches were much quicker than the Rams, and they exhibited exceptional ice balance as they spun off checks, won loose pucks and forced turnovers in all three zones.

“We play with conditioning and speed, and they usually play physical. But we were able to skate right by them,” said White.

“We stay moving as much as we can,” said Witch captain Nadeau. “We try to keep up the intensity all the time. I was proud of the guys for working so hard tonight.”

“It was like we were on the penalty kill for most of the game,” said Howat.

“They’re a good team, but we didn’t come out ready. We’re better than we played,” said Cota.

Brewer took a lead it would never relinquish with three goals in a span of 1:52 late in the first period.

White scored his first two goals 1:06 apart and Alexander capped the flurry.

Cota got one back nine seconds after Alexander’s goal.

The Witches comfortably killed off a five-on-three early in the second period and put the game away with three goals in a span of 2:38 late in the second period.

White opened the scoring at the 11:04 mark of the first period after taking a long pass from Cossette along the left wing side, pushed the puck around a Ram defenseman and beat Howat with a shanked snap shot.

“I whiffed on my shot, it was like a changeup. It went five-hole,” said White.

“It caught me offguard, but I should have had it,” said Howat, who had kept his team in the game with several quality saves.

White extended the lead by slicing across the top of the crease and swatting in his own rebound.

Alexander scored when Lucas Lamond tipped it to him as he was about to get hit by a pair of defensemen.

Alexander had his back facing the goal “and I waited for (Howat) to come over, and then I put it in the open net (back against the grain).”

Cota gave Bangor some life with a wrist shot from the right circle off a Tuell feed.

Bangor managed just one harmless shot on net during the two-man advantage as the tenacious Witches forced them into turnovers and limited their time and space with the puck as they did all night.

Alexander triggered the three-goal flurry in the second period with a slap shot from the right circle off another Lamond feed.

“It was a great play by Lucas. I was wide open. I saw some room to the far side, and it went in off the post,” said Alexander.

Nadeau scored 20 seconds later by swatting home a rebound in a multiple-shot barrage, and White made it 6-1 by tapping a loose puck home after Howat stopped Joey Fowler’s breakaway.